SHEDARESTHEDEVIL SCORES 15-1 UPSET TO WIN THE 146TH LONGINES KENTUCKY OAKS

By Gary Yunt —-

LOUISVILLE, KY (Friday, Sept. 4, 2020) – Qatar Racing, Flurry Racing Stables and Big Aut Farms’ Shedaresthesdevil pushed past heavy favorite Gamine at the eighth pole and then held off a bid from Swiss Skydiver by 1 ½ lengths to win the 146th running of the $1.25 million Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI) for 3-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs.

Trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Florent Geroux, Shedaresthedevil covered the 1 1/8 miles over a fast track in 1:48.28. The victory was the second for the Cox-Geroux tandem who triumphed in 2018 with Monomoy Girl.

As expected, Gamine set the pace, leading the field of nine through fractions of :23.39, :47.92 and 1:12.12 with Shedaresthedevil in closest pursuit to her outside and Swiss Skydiver tracking third on the inside.

At the head of the lane, Shedaresthedevil drew alongside Gamine and gradually eased by as Swiss Skydiver moved to the outside for one final surge that came up short.

“This is why you wake up every morning to get to win races like this,” Cox said. “This filly has been really impressive coming into the race and when she breezed with Monomoy Girl a couple weeks ago, we knew how well she was training. There were some tough fillies in the Oaks this year with Swiss Skydiver and Gamine. We are so thrilled to win a race like this, again, in our backyard. This has been a phenomenal day with Monomoy Girl winning the La Troienne then winning the Oaks with Shedaresthedevil. These are the days you dream of.”

Shedaresthedevil is a Kentucky-bred daughter of Daredevil out of the Congrats mare Starship Warpspeed. The winner’s share of $744,000 boosted Shedaresthedevil’s earnings to $1,245,768 with a record of 10-5-2-2.

The victory was her third in a row and third graded stakes victory.

Shedaresthedevil returned $32.20, $8.40 and $3.80. Swiss Skydiver, ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, returned $3.80 and $2.60 and finished 1 ½ lengths in front of Gamine who paid $2.40 to show under John Velazquez.

It was another 5 ¾ lengths back to Speech who was followed in order by Tempers Rising, Hopeful Growth, Bayerness, Donna Veloce and Dream Marie.